City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Va., Deploy Interoperable Communications Network

The Rockingham-Harrisonburg Emergency Communications Center plans to deploy an $18.9 million network that will connect city of Harrisburg and Rockingham County, Va., public safety and service officials on a single interoperable network. Currently, disparate radio systems hamper communication between officials responding to emergencies performing routine day-to-day tasks A complementary paging system, UHF and 800MHz mutual aid network will also be implemented as a part of the overall communications network.

The backbone of the communications system will include an 800MHz EDACS IP digital communications network with Project 25 Common Air Interface, which will provide users with comprehensive digital coverage. The new system replaces conventional low-band and conventional UHF systems that do not currently provide adequate coverage to users or grant interoperable communications capabilities among various agencies in the city and county.

"The new M/A-COM system will provide our public safety personnel with an essential communications tool necessary to better perform their work," said Jim Junkins, director of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Emergency Communications Center. "For the first time, the city of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County's police, sheriff, fire and emergency medical first-responders will be able to talk to one another and coordinate with other city and county service agencies on a single communications system -- enabling them to act more quickly and efficiently in times of crisis, without awkwardly switching radios or attempting to patch in to remote dispatchers."

In addition to public safety responders in the city of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County having the ability to talk to one another, the city and county will have the option in the future to merge voice and data communications on a single network.